Two poems based on the Daniel Boone episode, A Rope For Mingo
by Corncakes
Summary: For those familiar with the Daniel Boone series of the 60's starring Fess Parker as Daniel, and Ed Ames, as his best friend and Cherokee brother, Mingo, the episode, "A Rope For Mingo" was always disconcerting to me. How could Daniel think and do what he did by not trusting Mingo? I have watched it and watched it; these two poems have helped me work through it.


The Rope

From Mingo's point of view.

* * *

"You don't believe me do you?"

I could see it in your eyes.

My brother and my friend

Now accuses me of lies.

* * *

These scars upon my back

Bred doubt from you, not trust.

Inside I hide the hurt,

Alone I face a death unjust.

* * *

The man I call my brother,

The one I walk beside.

Now questioning my honor,

It cuts deep into my pride.

* * *

"The law or my life?"

A mob demands I die.

"Which is more important?" I asked.

"Both." was your reply.

* * *

You are a driven man, I know,

By justice, God, and truth.

It is that strength I honor

When side-by-side I stand with you.

* * *

I ran and you came after.

I fought, you would not give up.

"We'll find the real killer," you said.

Sealed with a handshake of trust.

* * *

And so you say the answer

Is to find the guilty man.

My faith in you is steadfast.

My life is in your hands.

* * *

But your quest for the truth,

May prove too late for me.

I feel the hatred closing in,

While a murderer runs free.

* * *

Their insults come too easily

From men who despise my kind.

The rope will burn around my neck.

I am running out of time.

* * *

They have tied my hands behind me,

Condemned without my say.

I am nothing. A redskin savage,

In the white man's world today.

* * *

Justice knows its color,

In their grasp, the rope is taut.

The air I breathe escapes me.

Here I will die; my battles fought.

* * *

This untamed country that feeds my soul

Settled first by my elders' hands.

A name as beautiful as itself

Ken-tah-teh, the promised land.

* * *

Bury me with my bullwhip.

Put my knife back in its sheath.

If die I must by a mob's rule,

Oh, Great Spirit grant me peace.

* * *

"Cut him down!" you shouted.

"He is innocent." is what I heard.

"This man is the killer.

I doubted Mingo's word."

* * *

I saw it in your face, Daniel.

I heard it in your voice.

The feeling of remorse rang out.

I know you had no choice.

* * *

A search for truth and justice

Will sometimes split apart

The best of friends and brothers.

I know this in my heart.

* * *

My mother taught me forgiveness.

Her Cherokee way is mine.

I will overlook blind hatred

And put this all behind.

* * *

Your friendship means more to me

Than a hanging length of rope.

We will search for truth together

And make this land, a land of hope.

* * *

The Question

From Daniel's point of view.

* * *

It felt more like a home that day,

When Zach Morgan came to trade.

"They'll be here, Dan'l, real soon."

His smile lit up the place.

* * *

"My brother, Silas, his wife and boy,

Only family I got left.

They'll be here, Dan'l, real soon,

And I want to get them a gift."

* * *

Then Jericho shouted, "Massacre!"

Turned a happy day to sad.

"On the trail, all three dead.

It's your brother, Zach."

* * *

"I found this, Dan'l, in his chest.

It took the dead man's life."

And all of Boonesborough saw as

Jericho handed me your knife.

* * *

"Looks like Mingo's," I heard myself say.

"I ought to know his knife."

Zach Morgan took a rope in hand,

"I'll make him pay with his life."

* * *

The mob moved like wildfire,

Rash anger fed their flame.

The more I tried to put it out,

The more they cursed your name.

* * *

Smoke-filled skies led to the scene.

Your shirt lay in the dirt.

"Torn clean off his back," Cincinnatus said,

But no one even heard.

* * *

All we saw were your beads

In the hand of the slain youth.

I told them I would find you

And come back with the truth.

* * *

No one saw the rawhide straps

Still hanging from the tree.

No one saw your blood on the ground,

Worst of all, not me.

* * *

Your tracks leading through the woods,

Half-naked, and half-dead.

Did I stop and look for signs?

No, I went with them instead.

* * *

"Mingo's innocent, protect him, Dan."

Becky looked me in the eye.

"I'll bring him back safe for a trial

Or know the reason why."

* * *

The Choctaw all were quiet,

When I asked where you were at.

"I'll search each lodge," then your voice,

"Daniel, there's no need for that."

* * *

"You don't believe me do you?" you asked.

My silence is now my regret.

I couldn't look you in the eye

For the first time since we met.

* * *

I saw the scars upon your back,

Heard the hurt in your voice.

But my friend, my brother,

Believe me, I had no choice.

* * *

I live by the Truth.

I'm sworn to keep the law.

I had to prove to Boonesborough

The lying words of the squaw.

* * *

You pleaded with me, "Let me go,

Give me a fighting chance."

I faced my biggest challenge

With the question that you asked.

* * *

"What's more important, Daniel,

The law or my life?"

Your words cut into me

Like the sharp blade of a knife.

* * *

Tempers flared as torches burned,

Blind rage filled the night.

"We'll make Mingo the example,

And teach them redskins wrong from right."

* * *

Twice in twenty four hours,

We faced each other as foes.

Until our handshake of trust

Overcame our enemy blows.

* * *

Apart we searched to find the truth,

Meeting back at Findley Lake.

But the mob found you first,

A judge and jury driven by hate.

* * *

Once more the white man scorned you,

Hands tied fast behind you bound.

The rope around your neck tightened,

As your moccasins left the ground.

* * *

I heard your gasps for air,

As I got there just in time.

"Mingo's innocent, cut him down!" I said.

Your death was almost mine.

* * *

A mob's hatred turned to civility,

As the murderer told the truth.

A man's sorrow turned to shame,

As he lifted the hangman's noose.

* * *

My constant quest for justice,

I don't pretend to understand.

You say I'm a great granite boulder,

But like you I'm just a man.

* * *

Your life, your friendship, Mingo

I value more than any man's.

But I'm bound to uphold the law

To make Kentucky a civilized land.

* * *

My friend and my brother,

Together we seek the way.

To have peace between our people,

On the banks of the Ken-tah-teh.


End file.
